1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a peeling device for peeling e.g. a peel-off paper from a peel-off paper-backed adhesive tape, a tape processing device including the peeling device and a trimming device for trimming e.g. an end of the peel-off paper-backed adhesive tape in the form of a label e.g. into one with a radius, and a tape printing apparatus incorporating the tape processing device.
2. Prior Art
As a conventional trimming device of the above-mentioned kind, one for being mounted in a tape printing apparatus has been proposed e.g. by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 3-28739. In this tape printing apparatus, there is mounted a trimming device conforming to the tape width of a peel-off paper-backed adhesive tape to be trimmed, and the trimming device is replaced by another according to a change in the tape width of a tape employed. The trimming device is comprised of a cutter unit for trimming an end of a strip of peel-off paper-backed adhesive tape and a guide member for guiding the strip inserted therein to the cutter unit. The strip of the peel-off paper-backed adhesive tape, which has desired characters and figures printed thereon and has been delivered out of the tape printing apparatus, is inserted into this trimming device, whereby an end of the peel-off paper-backed tape is automatically trimmed to have corners thereof formed into ones with a radius.
On the other hand, as a conventional peeling device of the above-mentioned kind, a peeling device has been proposed e.g. by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 5-169749. The proposed peeling device is provided as an attachment to a tape printing apparatus, and useful in effecting a permanent deformation of part of a peel-off paper-backed adhesive tape by sandwiching a corner portion thereof between a punch and a die of the device. A substrate tape and a peel-off paper as components of the peel-off paper-backed adhesive tape restore their shapes differently to respective permanently deformed shapes due to a difference in their materials, so that the punching causes the peel-off paper to be slightly peeled at a portion thereof from the substrate tape. The resulting slightly separated or peeled portion is used as a portion for seizure by the user when he peels the peel-off paper off the substrate tape.
In the proposed peeling device, however, it is required to determine an area and depth of hitting of the punch on the die by taking into account the rigidity of the substrate tape and that of the peel-off paper, the difference in rigidity between them, and adhesion of the adhesive to the peel-off paper, so that the peeling cannot be effected with sufficient reliability which meets the demand of the users. Further, since not only the peel-off paper but also the substrate tape is permanently deformed, the substrate tape acquires a so-called bent property, which makes the substrate tape affixed to an object liable to have pebbling or easy to be removed from the object.
Further, since the trimming device and the peeling device do not operate at the same time, when they are simply mounted e.g. in a tape printing apparatus, it is expected that they are provided with respective drive sources, such as motors. This results in duplication of components of the tape printing apparatus, resulting in increased size and manufacturing costs of the whole apparatus.